Pricing · Help Desk

Help Scout pricing

What Help Scout costs per user, plan by plan, what the free plan really covers, and the AI Answers and extra inbox fees that change the final number.

Help Scout keeps pricing refreshingly plain: a genuinely free plan for very small teams, then three paid tiers billed per user with unlimited contacts. Standard covers core email, chat and a knowledge base, Plus adds automation, custom fields and advanced reporting, and Pro brings advanced permissions, HIPAA compliance and priority support. The free plan caps you at one inbox, five users and a hundred contacts a month, so most growing teams move to Standard quickly. Below we lay out each plan as published, then the AI Answers and add on fees that tend to nudge real spend past the per user figure.

Read the full Help Scout review
Reviewed by ·Updated MAY 2026·How we vet

Plans and prices

Per user / month, billed annually

Pricing as of June 2026. Paid plans are Standard $25, Plus $45 and Pro $75 per user per month billed annually; monthly billing costs more. A free plan covers one inbox, up to five users and a hundred contacts a month. AI Answers bills per resolution and extra inboxes cost more. Check the vendor for current pricing.

Free
$0
One inbox for very small teams
+One shared inbox, up to five users
+Up to a hundred contacts a month
+Email support and knowledge base
+AI Assist on drafts
★ Our pick
Standard
$25
Core support for growing teams
+Email, chat and social channels
+Unlimited contacts
+Knowledge base and basic reporting
+AI Assist included
Plus
$45
Automation and deeper reporting
+Everything in Standard
+Workflows and custom fields
+Advanced reporting
+AI Summarize and AI Drafts
Pro
$75
Permissions and compliance at scale
+Everything in Plus
+Advanced permissions and roles
+HIPAA compliance
+Priority support
What moves the real bill

The plan price is the floor, not the bill.

Four things tend to separate the published Help Scout plan price from what teams actually pay. Budget for these before you commit.

The free plan is small. The free plan caps you at one inbox, five users and a hundred contacts a month, so all but the smallest teams move to Standard at $25 per user fairly quickly.
AI Answers bills per resolution. AI Answers, the self serve AI that resolves customer questions, bills around seventy five cents per resolution on top of your plan, so heavier AI deflection raises the usage line as volume grows.
Extra inboxes and Docs sites cost more. Additional shared inboxes run about ten dollars a month each and extra knowledge base sites about twenty dollars a month each, so multi team or multi brand setups add to the bill.
Monthly billing costs more. Month to month billing is priced higher than annual, and the Plus and Pro tiers add the automation, permissions and compliance that regulated or larger teams often need.
Pricing questions

Help Scout pricing FAQ

Is there a free version of Help Scout?

Yes. Help Scout offers a free plan with one shared inbox, up to five users and up to a hundred contacts a month over email, plus a knowledge base. Beyond those limits the cheapest paid tier is Standard at $25 per user per month billed annually. Pricing as of June 2026; check the vendor for current pricing.

How much does Help Scout cost?

Help Scout paid plans list Standard at $25, Plus at $45 and Pro at $75 per user per month billed annually, alongside a limited free plan. Monthly billing costs more. AI Answers and extra inboxes are billed separately. Verified June 2026.

Which Help Scout plan is best value?

For most small to mid sized teams, Standard at $25 covers email, chat, social and a knowledge base with unlimited contacts. Teams that need automation, custom fields and advanced reporting move up to Plus, and regulated teams needing HIPAA move to Pro.

Does Help Scout charge extra beyond the plan price?

Sometimes. AI Answers bills per resolution, additional inboxes and Docs sites carry monthly fees, and monthly billing costs more than annual. For a simple single inbox team, though, the per user price is close to the all in cost.

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